This invention relates to splicing ends of electrical conductors of an indefinite length, as well as to splicing ends of nonconductive lines.
One form of joining the ends of two indefinite lengths of lines or terminating a single line is a form of crimping. The line is placed into a housing. Housings may take many forms. For example, their cross sections may be oval, rectangular, circular or otherwise. One common form of housing is a tube or barrel. It should be understood, however, that the term barrel as discussed below is one specific embodiment of housings, and may take many other forms. Examples of lines are insulated or uninsulated electrically conductive wire, solid or stranded wire rope, nonconductive filaments, or other nonconductive lines. The conventional methods used for terminating one line in a housing or providing butt joint between the ends of first and second lines in a housing are crimping and swaging.
In a conventional crimp, a housing with a line inserted therein is squeezed from oposite sides. Extremely high crimping pressures are applied which deform not only the housing, but also deform the line being contained. The housing is effectively crushed onto the line to provide a frictional fit between the line and housing. The usual effect is to reduce the cross-sectional area of the line and consequently reduce the line's tensile strength. The ability of an electrically conductive line to carry electrical current is also often reduced. It is normally necessary to provide extremely high (with respect to the materials being crimped) forces in order to provide reliable contact between the housing and the line. In the process of crimping, it is desireable to displace oxides on the surface of the line at the interface within the housing and to provide a gas tight joint which will not permit the entry of moisture or other contaminants in order to prevent long term degradation of both mechanical and electrical connections. Swaging may be generally described as the squeezing of a softer material around a harder material. Swaging avoids deformation of the cross section of the line, but requires very high compression forces acting over large areas of contact. Only the housing is deformed, and the tensile strength of the joint is directly dependent on the friction between the line and the deformed housing. Conventional swaging configurations also do not provide for any form of resilience in reaction to axial forces applied along the line. Convention crimping, and to some extent swaging, does not eliminate the tendency of crimped material to return to its original shape.